


Namesong

by Techmaturgics



Category: League of Legends
Genre: Character Development, Gen, M/M, Shurima, Shuriman Darius, some light shipping in later chapters, story focused
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-14
Updated: 2018-11-06
Packaged: 2019-06-10 12:00:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15291069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Techmaturgics/pseuds/Techmaturgics
Summary: In the years following Jayce's fame, he experiences strange dreams and hallucinations that increase as time goes on. After a fateful encounter with a panicked and crazed excavator, Jayce realizes that his experiences are connected to the namestone powering his mercury hammer-cannon. Drawn to these mysteries and driven by his desire to rid himself of these visions, Jayce undertakes a journey to Shurima in search of the origins of the strange Shuriman crystal.





	1. Good Morning

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there! I'm Ash, the writer of this little series. This story will focus on mostly Jayce and his experiences with the crystal and the Brackern involving Skarner. There will be some light shipping, but it won't be the focus of the story. 
> 
> Until recently I had wanted this to be a solo experience for Jayce as he makes his journey to Shurima and face the mysteries of the desert, but I am a sucker and have fancied the thought of adding an unexpected companion to join him through the desert. 
> 
> We'll talk more about it the closer we get to those chapters. For now, I hope you enjoy this story as much as I do enjoy writing it!

Comforting coolness. A quiet place beneath the earth, deep down past the twisting roots and through the heavy rock and sand. Jayce could feel the world around him, alive and embracing. All of him could feel the motion of the world as if his soul was one with it. He could feel everything then with a quiet realization that he wasn’t alone. There were more. More of them beneath the earth, all connected and he could hear. He could hear it all. 

At first it was one voice. Then he could hear them all. They sung. They didn’t speak and Jayce felt like he was on the verge of understanding something important but couldn’t place his finger on it. So he raised his soul, letting his entire existence to dip and expand throughout the cool earth. He rose and sang back. He sang his mind song and felt others answer back with their own and felt them ripple through him. Jayce felt them intimately, ringing in his mind and heart and he felt at peace.

Then Jayce awoke.

He felt suffocated. He let out a short gasp then kicked off the heavy blankets. It felt like a cold sweat had taken him but as he wiped his face with his shaking hands Jayce felt nothing but the warmth of his own flesh against his fingers. He let out a shaky breath, dragging his hands down his face. 

He could feel the clouds of the dream he just had begin to drift away, taking with them the visions of desert and sun as if it was merely only a faint memory. However, he was still chasing them. He wanted to hold fast to them but they slipped through his fingers like grains of sand, falling away in the wind and returning to whence they came. 

Jayce couldn’t hold onto them and found it harder and harder to remember the dream he had. Except the feeling stayed. That disquieting feeling of something urging him, something ringing and echoing off the walls of his mind and calling him to do… something. He shook it away from him. 

Like droplets of rain, he shook it from his body and  heart. Jayce’s eyes spied the clock on the wall and knew that he was late, but somehow that was the least of his worries as he rolled out of bed, tossing the blankets messily back onto the badly made bed. He stuffed himself with untoasted bread and a glass of water. Tasteless, but he didn’t care. Jayce only needed food for his body to transfer into energy. He was never picky. 

Piltover was cool when he emerged from his home, the sun shining brightly in the sky. It was always cool in Piltover, a constant breeze and the scent of ocean right beside every window. Piltover was a coastal city-state, surrounded by nothing but sea and ships that came to dock everyday before even the sun rose. The city was always wide awake and someone was always trying to make their pockets heavier. 

He wasn’t really late. There was no saying that Jayce was late. He was there when he wanted to be as long as he got what he needed to do done within a reasonable amount of time. The clan never cared too much to make him follow strict rules and when they tried to punish Jayce it ended up backfiring for them. There was little to say about trying to tame the Defender of Tomorrow. 

Jayce could smell coffee as he threaded through the tightly knit crowds of people. It was either tea or coffee in Piltover. Cafes sat at every corner expectedly, waiting with open doors for the waves of people to get their fix. Espresso bars sending off shots into waiting mouths like clockwork. Jayce himself was a coffee person but this morning he was in no mood for it, the familiar scent which would have usually calmed him did nothing to ease the nerves that squirmed within his gut. 

He just couldn’t shake the last bits of dream mist from his mind. He had been having these dreams with increasing frequency. Dreams where he felt like he was in some far off place but by the time he woke up he couldn’t remember the details or how anything looked. Just those lingering, confusing emotions of pain, longing, and sadness. And there was a feeling of epiphany biting at the edges of his mind but he could not unlock it not matter what he did and how long he thought. What was it, he wonder?  

He hated this, he hated feeling useless and having no progress. It reminded him of the first time he ever encountered such an emotion. Everything came easily to Jayce. He was perfect in his work and in his thought process, but then they handed him that crystal. That giant heap of raw magic dug out from some ditch in Shurima and taken back to Piltover. 

However he had never felt so invigorated working over something as he did with that crystal. It challenged him. It was something so tangible yet so carefully wrapped in intricate mystery. It taunted him and it  _ called  _ to him. That’s when it all started actually, if he think about it. The dreams and the phantom voices he thought he heard when he turned around in the lab only to find no one there. 

It wasn’t often at first. The first year after his fallout with Viktor and the whole misunderstanding with the crystal it was near unnoticeable. Sometimes Jayce felt a strange heat when he touched the sliver of crystal but no one else felt its heat. Sometimes he heard distant singing and just chucked that idea toward the notion that he was just overworked and stressed or someone was just passing by. 

The second year wasn’t much different except that was when Jayce experienced his first dream. He was stuck in bed with a fever then so he dismissed the visions of desert and blue skies that he experienced. Then the second came months later but he dismissed that as well. It was only two of the same dream with a large time gap in between. 

That was also the year he met Amaranthine, the young, little blonde girl who stubbornly had Jayce fix her toy and afterwards still decided that she liked him for some strange reason and wanted to stick by his side as his “assistant”. He had tried his hardest to chase her away but she surprised Jayce with her tenacity and somehow he gained his one and only true follower. 

The reason why he was thinking of Amaranthine was because he had another dream right after that incident with the Zaunite junkies. The faint voices came more often and by the third year it had intensified the more Jayce used the hammer. Now by the beginning of the fourth year he was having dreams almost every week and was getting more and more irritable. 

Jayce entered the the Gioparra estate, heading toward the main labs and his own private one that sat in the back, farther away from everyone else. Just the way he liked it. When Jayce entered Amaranthine was already there. Her blonde hair was tied up in a messy ponytail, big eyes directed at the mess of papers beneath her as she sat casually on the tiled floor. There was an opened box of crayons and Jayce’s favorite pen set beside her. 

“So,” Jayce intoned, sauntering over and plopping down in a wooden chair nearby. He was languid and honestly didn’t feel like moving for the next hour. 

“Is being my assistant mean that you don’t actually do any work or?” 

Amaranthine didn’t even look up from her drawing, her face calm and peaceful. Much to Jayce’s annoyance. She didn’t even seem bothered that she was hindering him in any way.

“Does being a techmaturgist mean that you don’t actually do any work and just sleep in your lab all day?” 

Jayce rolled his eyes then glanced at his pen set sitting in disarray. He felt his hands twitch. 

“I do work,” he countered, scowling. Well, lately he hasn’t. There hadn’t been many commissions nor had he have any ideas for something new to create. But hey, you can’t perfection and Jayce wasn’t going to force it. Especially with how this year was going. It was hard to concentrate enough with all these dreams and hallucinations. He ended up spending his time sleeping in the lab when he could, relieved to be mostly undisturbed during his slumber. 

He wasn’t going to tell Amaranthine that though. Not about these weird things happening. He already felt like he was going crazy and he didn’t need her thinking he was crazy too. As much as he complained and acted annoyed, she was quite the comforting presence in his life. Her sassy and bright attitude often lifted Jayce from his pessimistic moods. He benefitted her too. 

Despite her looks and her habit of just drawing things on Jayce’s spare papers with his best pen sets, she was quite diligent. She was a fast learner and she did actually help him around the lab. Jayce wasn’t a good teacher by any means. In fact he didn’t even try to teach her or explain to her what he did and why he did some things. She just accepted it and from watching his actions she had gleaned quite a lot of knowledge that Jayce was honestly impressed with. 

She even won her school’s science fair last year, placing first. Jayce wondered if this was how a parent felt, to be proud of their own child’s accomplishments. He remembered that summer, her eyes gleaming and her smile wide and excited. He had been there, watching as she was brought to the front, smaller than all the kids her age but with a bigger presence than most. 

It was annoying though to have so many parents approach him, asking if she was his daughter and who the mother was. After that day Jayce decided he wasn’t cut out to be a parent. 

Apparently Amaranthine had finally looked up from her ‘work’ and was staring at Jayce now. She frowned. 

“You’re not drinking coffee today.”

“Very astute, Ammy.” He said sarcastically. She ignored it.

“Are you okay?”

Jayce rubbed his face. He wondered if his exhaustion showed on his devilishly handsome features. He shrugged.

“Yeah.”

They didn’t speak for a while after that. It wasn’t unusual for them to lapse into silences but Jayce could practically feel her doubt in this one, her look was pointed as if she were trying to stab the truth out of him without saying a single word.  Jayce however was a stone wall. He was stubborn and as hard headed as a bull. He ignored her and just melted into the chair in his weariness, eyes falling shut.

Jayce must have fallen asleep because in the next moment of consciousness he experienced, someone other than him and Amaranthine was in his lab. Some guy from the main house. He was giving Amaranthine a letter. Jayce could see his spiteful face as the man glanced between Jayce and the little girl before him. He must be both confused and annoyed. Jayce guessed it was because he was in fact sleeping on the job and he had someone not from their clan was on clan grounds. He could practically see the disapproval oozing from him. 

Would be great if Jayce gave two shits. 

But he didn’t and so he ignored him and let Amaranthine see the guy off. It took Jayce a moment to realize Amaranthine had put a blanket over him. He felt cozy and a bit more energized from the small rest.

“You’ve got a job.” He heard her say, listened to her footsteps fall closer. She placed the letter in his lap and went back to her spot. This time though she wasn’t coloring anymore. Some few books sat off to her side and she was writing something. Probably her summer homework for school. 

Jayce took another minute to sit there before snaking his hands out from beneath the blanket and tearing the letter open. He let the envelope fall onto the ground and opened the letter with a loud yawn. However irritation began to seep into Jayce as he began to read the contents. The corner of his lip twitched in annoyance.

It wasn’t a commission, nothing about research or creating something that could benefit their society, or a report, it wasn’t even to be a representative to some boring clan party that they seemed so fond of throwing his way. No, they hadn’t asked the Defender of Tomorrow any such thing. 

The city-state of Piltover and Jayce’s clan had called upon him to demolish their unwanted buildings. 

 


	2. Not What I Signed Up For

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long delay. With the emergence of the new lore on Shurima and Runeterra I was slow to decide how I wanted to continue my story. I was also uninspired and busy with mundane life things. I am still very passionate about this story though and Jayce's journey. I really, really want to write it and sometimes I just don't think I'm good enough to, but I will continue and maybe in the future if I'm not satisfied I can return to earlier chapters and rewrite them.

Jayce held his hammer tightly, loosened his grip then began to toss his hammer from hand to hand, a habit he had developed since long ago. It was especially prominent when he was deep in thought. 

“Fine day ain’t it, hero?” The old man crooned, calling up the lift for Jayce. He leaned heavily on a wooden cane. Hand carved it looked. There were some strange designs on it, but Jayce didn’t really care enough to pay attention. The old man sniffed the air and let out a loud, heavy breath. 

“Can almost smell the Gray from here.”

Jayce wondered why they had sent him here. Why of all people to do their construction work. He wasn’t a laborer. He was an inventor, damn you. 

Well, maybe he couldn’t blame them entirely. His hammer’s original purpose to be used as a demolition tool anyways, but he was surprised they even remembered or thought to even consider using it for its intended purpose. ‘Cause Jayce sure didn’t use it to demolish anything but thugs or robbers who thought they could best him. 

This was just such an odd job though.

He must have pissed someone off and even though that wasn’t an unusual thing, he wondered what it was that he did and to whom. Sometimes they made him do paperwork, or accompany someone who was utterly boring to some party, or go down to Zaun to do some dirty work. But he’s never had to demolish a building. 

Usually they’d leave that up to Jinx, but if it was a specific building he guessed they couldn’t just look for her and ask her to blow it up. He wondered what they were even going to use the space for. This area was closer to Zaun, the Gray almost sneaking up the pipes and around your ankles. 

 “Best be careful down there, Mr. Hero,” the old man warned, his voice low. He had a soft accent, something Jayce couldn’t place. Then again he heard so many accents everyday that it was normal if someone talking was from some obscure town in Ionia or Bilgewater. 

The lift groaned as it rose to a stop before them. Jayce stopped his fidgeting and hefted the top half of the hammer against his shoulder as he stepped in. The lift gave a concerning creak and shudder but he was assured by the old man that she would hold. Not that Jayce really believed him.

“Good luck down there with whatever you’re doing,” the old man called, waving. Jayce yawned, finally looking up at the old man just before the entrance was fully obscured with wall as the lift descended. 

“I don’t need luck.”

* * *

He reached the bottom with no incident. The lift held and he got out. Jayce took a moment to survey the gloom of the area before him. Entresol, it was that weird in between area where both Zaun and Piltover met, two different cultures melding together with loud chatter and a love for entertainment and trade. Right beneath the Promenade. He could still see the sky above the piping and twisting buildings but feel the stirrings of the Gray beneath his feet.

Viktor’s lab was further in than here. 

Jayce shook any lingering and treacherous thoughts of Viktor from his mind. He didn’t need to think about him right now. That wasn’t his job. Though he couldn’t help the memory of Viktor once telling him he was born here so long ago. Jayce breathed deeply, shook his head then took off. He worked his way through the dim streets, his boots clicking against the worn cobblestone and coattails swaying behind him. 

Jayce hadn’t used the main lift for transport down to this level. You’d want to go to Drop Street or the Rising Howl for that. Too many people though and Jayce wasn’t looking to meet anyone he didn’t have to meet or talk to while doing his work. Besides those lifts brought you to the more well inhabited and entertainment areas. Where Jayce was going there would be less people and more thugs than anything. 

It wasn’t long till Jayce was traveling pathways less favored by most. He could feel hidden eyes watching him from slouching buildings and tightly knit alleyways. However none dared approach him and those minding their own business melted away into the sides and crooks of buildings as he passed by.

Unless specifically paid to get their ass beat, no one would dare try to mug the Defender of Tomorrow especially when he had his Mercury Hammer. Even without it Jayce proved to be a bothersome foe for most. He wasn’t inexperienced with fighting without a weapon and he had the cleverness of his own mind. 

He was more or less familiar with these paths though it had been a considerably long time since he came here. Jayce used to be quite the explorer when he was younger. He didn’t even need to read the directions that came with the letter that was crumpled and stuffed without care in his back pocket. He saw the crooked and bent iron gates before he saw the dark, abandoned building that already seemed to be collapsing into itself.

Jayce scratched the back of his neck, brows furrowing. The gates had already been pried open, the iron rusted and red from the lack of care. He nudged the opening wider with his boot then shoved it open the rest of the way when it began to make an insufferable screeching sound. The bottom edges of the gate dragged against the ground and the sound made Jayce wince and his insides flip. 

It wouldn’t surprise Jayce is there were actually people living in here. He wondered if the state or whoever the authority who was in charge of this even evacuated everyone before asking Jayce to come here. It annoyed him. 

He advanced in long strides. Jayce shimmies his way inside and sniffs the air. It doesn’t smell very good but he didn’t expect it to in the first place. It’s musty, damp and he could smell fire. Jayce dropped to a crouch and slinks his way through the shadows, careful as to where he steps. 

Then he sees it. Light and twisting shadows snarling and snapping against the worn walls. He sees a large shadow appear, wavering and moving into view. Before he’s seen Jayce ducks down and back into the darker part of the hallway, his hand pressed hard against the door of an open room. He was ready to hide inside if the person showed any signs of venturing down this path. 

Luck was on his side and he saw only the back of a man as he shuffled around then settle down deeper into the open room ahead. Jayce kept one hand on the wall and one around the neck of his hammer. He crept closer until he had a clear view of the large room. 

Faces dirty and tired. Bodies curled over themselves. Heads all in a circle around a fire, throwing light upon the deep lines of their faces. There are no words shared but their frames spoke volumes and Jayce was angry. 

Damn those higher ups. There really was people in here. Did they not care if they were hurt at all? Jayce scowled. He was definitely not going to demolish the place now. And he wasn’t about to play evacuator. If they wanted him to clear the place they’d have to find a place for these people to settle.

He would ignore this job. Send their letter back and tell them to revise their plan. Maybe he’d make them a new toy to destroy buildings with instead of calling him in for something like this. But then again would it be safe? 

Jayce wasn’t sure he should trust other peoples’ judgements seeing as the clans and city government didn’t even bother taking care of their citizens and couldn’t care less about things that didn’t profit them. Maybe he should report this to Cait, have her deal with this. She was probably the only good force out there making a difference in Piltover. And Jayce wasn’t enough a  goody two shoes to try to help everyone out. 

There was talking. Or more like muttering. Jayce couldn’t make out a thing they said. However he did recognize their panicked voices when a young boy came running in, panting and bowing forward to catch his breath, hands on his knees. He pointed behind him and relayed some quick spoken message that sent the rest of the small camp into a fright.

Something bounced off the side of Jayce’s boot. He looked down and saw a small rock, watched it bounce and bounce then shudder and hit the side of the wall. The ground was shaking with little tremors. He looked up and squinted through the darkness, holding his hammer close and lying in wait. The was a steadily ramping thump, a rumbling that grew closer.

He watched with anticipation as a bulbous and bald head, scarred and pale surface into the light. It grew larger, and larger. Until a full, monstrous body in size and disposition was on full display, tubes and scars decorating it. Jayce wasn’t sure if it could be even called a man anymore, let alone human. A being like that pumped full of chemicals and other devices, a walking beast designed for nothing good. Jayce felt his insides twist. 

Then a smaller man, long and lanky and also filled with tubes and wires revealed himself beside his hulking friend. He wore orange tinted goggles that covered his eyes. His voice was loud, scratchy and full of malice. He spoke, what he said specifically Jayce couldn’t really make out, but he had an instinctive feeling that it wasn’t friendly.

An older man stood up, staggering on a bad leg with the help of the young boy who had come to warn them. They spoke and Jayce moved closer to hear better. But as he did, it was apparent that it wasn’t what the two junkies wanted to hear. With a giant arm raised, the giant bull of a man swept the old man aside like paper. His body hit the wall like a bag of bricks and Jayce grimaced, gripping his hammer tighter. He felt electricity in his fingertips and a buzzing in his brain. 

Panicked cries echoed through the building and sobbing ensued. The people present cowered and mourned over their lost friend.

With a dirty and slimy grin, the lanky man spoke once more, his goggles glinting in the dim light.

“Burn it.” 

With that command the beast was in motion, his great arms heaving and reaching for something sitting on his back. He pulled forth a long, metal shaft with a large nozzle filled with holes around the head. A flamethrower. The lanky man twisted a knob at the back of the fuel tank sitting on the beast’s back. 

“Get out!!” Jayce yelled. Their heads turned to the darkness of the hall he sat in, crouched and positioned with his hammer cannon. He dropped an Acceleration Gate and squeezed the latch beneath the head of his hammer and hit the big guy with a Hyper Charge. It was explosive and smoke filled the room. Jayce quickly looked toward the kid who sat weak-legged by the corpse of the old man. He motioned for him to move, speaking loudly.

“Get them out, kid! What are you doing? Do you wanna die-”

Jayce dropped his hammer when out from the smoke the beast-like man came at him. It clattered to the floor loudly. The beast roared as it tackled Jayce into the wall. Jayce saw stars for a moment and he felt like this was a common occurrence with him. Being pinned into things by ugly, massive men who wanted to kill him. He recalled briefly the day he first met Amaranthine but was snapped out of his dazed memories when giant, grubby hands lifted him up by his coat. Jayce wheezed. 

“Your breath..” He squirmed in the beast’s grasp and lodged his boots against the belly of him, grasping at his massive forearms with his gloves. “Stinks!!” Jayce gasped and used all his strength to kick both feet forward and launch the beast away just for a moment. 

He rolled out from beneath him, breathing heavily through his nose as he lunged for his hammer, bringing it back to swing at the staggering beast rearing up to charge him again. He was vaguely aware of the boy evacuating the others as he continued to fight. 

Good, Jayce just needed to give them enough time to get out. 

But of course things couldn’t go as planned. Jayce caught sight of the lanky man pulling out a hex-revolver on a woman who lagged behind. He called out to her but was taken by surprise by another swipe to his side. Jayce skidded across the floor on his knees, using his hammer to help him steady himself. The beast dipped his head and shoulders forward then charged at Jayce. Steeling himself, Jayce charged back but instead of colliding head on he dropped down and slid between the beast’s legs, straight toward the lanky man. 

Jayce stuck him down. Or rather threw him back with the force of his body. He drew back to reach toward the cowering woman. Her messy, unkempt blonde hair obscured her face and she wore tattered rags. Jayce’s eyes glazed the red armband on her arm and he ushered her to rise quickly. 

“Get up, hurry,” he said, reaching for her. She let out a shrill screech and crumpled up like paper in water, curling into herself and raising a crooking finger at him. She shook, heaving and hissing at him. Jayce jumped back, surprised. 

“Lady, c’mon, I’m not your enemy-”

“Cursed!” She hissed at him, pointing accusingly. Her eyes were wild, dark. Jayce was dumbfounded. He stood there, frozen at the viciousness of her proclamation. She withdrew closer to a wall, holding herself. 

“Get away, get away!! I can hear it, I can hear it, please - no more. Can’t you hear its voice? How it sings? You’re cursed! Like me!” The woman sobbed and sobbed, covering her face with her hands. Jayce felt like a bucket of cold water had just been thrown over him. But before he could even try to decipher the meaning of the thoughts that ran through his mind he felt pain blossoming from his side. A hot dart that ripped through him and left him to stumble onto the ground, wheezing. 

He was shot; that rat bastard. He heard his laughter but did not see him. Jayce fisted the dirty ground beneath him, trying to push himself up. Blood on his lips. He felt heavy and there was a ringing in his ears. A foot shoved itself in between his shoulder blades, pushing him back down. Jayce collapsed, groaning. 

“Trying to be hero? Ruth, burn it! Let him burn with the loonie.”

Jayce willed himself. Willed himself to get up, to rise and beat the ever living snot out of the asshole who just shot him. Except he didn’t, couldn’t make his body obey his commands and he lay there, gazing up at the quivering mess that was the blonde woman. She muttered to herself, saying inaudible things as focus shifted and Jayce could hear the sounds of the giant beastie move and the room was bathed in light. 

Voices.

Song.

Yeah, Jayce heard them too.

Smoke filled the room. Jayce could spy his hammer not far off, the metal reflected the flames, shadows danced beneath the gold. It lie on the dirty floor, a mirror of himself. The crystal within its center shimmered, whispered. And Jayce closed his eyes.

* * *

He was surrounded by light.

Hot sun lapped at his back, nestled in the locks of his hair and urged him forward. Jayce saw vast desert. Endless upon endless grains of sand. He walked. Then realized that there was no need to. What he was looking for was under his feet. Whispers calling to him, returning him to the sand. He dug, burrowed and burrowed, deep into the sand and into the dry earth. And then it came all around him.

The voices.

The songs.

He felt them upon his skin like a buzzing sensation, trying to sink into him, to dig into the core of him. Jayce was embraced by them. Felt his heart beat loudly in his chest and he wanted to sing back but his throat was wound tight. He could not sing and it was a painful feeling. Like he had been stripped of his born right. A part of him that was essential to him as breathing was. 

The songs that filled his being went over him but he could not answer back. He felt sadness, desperation, hope. 

Happiness, love, anger, fear. 

Deeper and deeper Jayce dug, propelled his spirit forward. Until he felt the comforting peace of a different song begin to wrap its fingers into his mind. Jayce sought after it. He followed its mellow call, the low notes that brought him deeper still. It felt like home. 

Jayce saw visions. 

He saw a still valley, the empty trees carved like bones. He saw life in the desert, the toil of men and the shimmer of crystal. He heard a voice. 

It sang to him.

Only to him.

And Jayce, sang back. 


	3. Visions and Dreams

A dull, aching pain. That’s what Jayce felt when he regained consciousness. At first he didn’t realize he was awake. He was only aware that he was in existence. Lying in a blanket of darkness, unfeeling and just conscious. He didn’t think of much. His mind was an empty slate. Then everything started sinking back into him. One sensation at a time.

A quiet beep of a monitor. The sound of machinery clicking and whirring. His own breathing, chest rising then falling then rising evermore. Still alive.

He felt the dull ache approach him after he realized that he was warm. There was a chill on his nose, the soft drone of rain against a window beckoning him back to the world. Then there was a bit of pain. He was sore, but nothing too bad. His throat was parched and his lips dry but he didn’t feel dehydrated. Jayce lay in darkness for several moments longer before he opened his eyes.

It was a slow process. Everything was blurry at first. He had trouble focusing and had to close his eyes a few times before he could keep them open without being dizzy. Not gonna lie he felt like shit but he was alive and he let everything come back to him.

Going to Zaun, finding those people and fighting. The raving woman.

Jayce looked around the room. He was in a hospital which wasn’t surprising in the slightest. He was glad he had sent a distress signal to Cait before charging in. He knew full well that she or Vi would have sent someone or came themselves. Well, at least he had hoped. Jayce had introduced the two of them with a pager. It was a small device he had made a while back and had given one to both Vi and Cait in case he was in trouble. And, mostly because Jayce often found himself in unfavorable situations that he often makes worse and Caitlyn had been complaining that he should call the police instead of trying to take care of the situation himself all the time.

But that wasn’t Jayce’s style. So they made a compromise.

And Jayce, admittedly was feeling quite reassured he had at this moment. If he hadn’t and didn’t ping before he went in, he would have probably been dead by now.

He looked around the room again. No flowers, but he didn’t expect it. However by his bedside was his mercury hammer. It sat against the white wall, the metal singed with the heat of flames that had lapped at it. He saw the shine of the crystal sitting inside it. It gave off a soft glow. Looking at it made Jayce restless.

He had dreamed but what he dreamed, Jayce could not remember. But he knew it was probably like his other ones. The visions and the voices. He could feel them still, just barely ringing in the back reaches of his mind and the tips of his fingers. It made Jayce nervous. He wondered if he was going insane. Did he breathe too much of the Gray in? No, no. What could possibly be..

Suddenly Jayce was faced with memories of the woman in the building. Her ragged appearance and worn features. He recalled the armband. He had seen it before. On several occasions. But Jayce needed to check some sources before he was sure. Maybe talk to the woman herself again if she was still alive.

Cursed.

That's what she said to him. That they were both cursed. Could she hear the voices too? See the visions he had? Was this some sort of curse? Jayce wasn’t sure if he wanted to believe that but anything was possible. There were unknown magics at work here that he could not comprehend and Jayce had an idea of who he could go to for advice. As much as he didn’t really want to, to spare him from the smug remarks and the teasing mostly. Jayce was still Jayce after all and he was prideful. But it was looking like sooner or later he’d have to talk to him.

Ezreal.

Jayce wondered if he was in town. Last he heard from the young man was that he was in the Freljord. Meeting with his uncle maybe. Jayce had met the man before. Very consumed with his own affairs. Probably not the best to raise a child like Ezreal, but a very informative man. He was the one who Jayce had taken the blueprints of his hammer from.

Or rather he had adjusted them to his own design. The mercury hammer wasn’t anyone’s specific invention. It’s design had been remade, tweaked and changed throughout decades and neither Jayce nor Professor Lymere knew the exact origins of its design.   

Jayce leaned back into the bed, closing his eyes. He was tired. From his wounds and from thinking so much on his own predicament. He had plans in his head. Roads of action he would seek to pursue to figure out what was afflicting him. For now though, he wanted to get better as quick as he could and get out of the hospital.

The rain continued to fall, hitting the window with a steady beat that was comforting. Jayce began to fall back into unconsciousness. Dim lights and beeping monitors slowly disappearing into the darkness of sleep. Jayce heard the faintest sound of singing before he was taken.

* * *

“You’re angry with me.”

“I’m not angry,” Cait replied, arms crossed and face placid. Vi handed Jayce an apple slice.

“She might be a little angry,” Vi chimed. Cait gave her a hard glance then squinted at Jayce. He and Vi exchanged looks.

“I’m not. Angry. And we’re not discussing this anymore.” Her voice was steel. She continued. “And as for your status update, the people were relocated and the men who attacked them arrested.”

“Where did you relocate them? They have no place to go. And the state should pay. Why on Runeterra would they have me go there in the first place? Innocent lives were endangered.”

Cait raised her hand to quiet him then sighed deeply. She looked worn, tired. Vi had told Jayce she had been running around like a chicken the last few days to sort out this mess. And, maybe Jayce had some sympathy, but he also had a lot of questions. He was annoyed to be used as a tool in the first place.

“I’m taking care of it. But why do you want to see them? Unusually if I tell you they’re fine you drop the whole thing. Why so interested personally?”

Jayce almost choked on his apple slice. Vi snorted with quiet laughter with her mouth full. He swallowed and was suddenly without words. He really didn’t want to tell them that he may or may not be going slowly insane and he thinks a crazy woman might be able to help him.

“I.. need to ask something from one of them.”

Cait stared at him. It was starting to make him uncomfortable the way she was looking at him as if she was looking into his soul. If he even had one. Jayce was going to say something until she spoke first.

“I can give you the address, but if it’s a young, blonde woman you’re looking for she passed away. Died from her wounds.”

Jayce was stunned. Stopped dead in his tracks. He felt his mouth dry. If she had died… then what now? Jayce suddenly felt a bit sick. He didn’t save her in time and now he couldn’t even ask her what she had seen. He had tried to play hero and was distracted by her raving. He should have just took her and gotten out, but he hadn’t and now she was dead and he was still alive.

Sensing his distress, Vi patted Jayce’s shoulder sympathetically.

“Hey, big guy don’t let it get to you. It’s not your fault. We’re making the guys who did this pay.”

Her words were lost to him. Jayce felt numb, but his mind raced beneath his stoic surface. He sighed and rubbed his face.

“When did the doctor say I could leave?” he asked. Cait finally smiled. She seemed a lot more human then. Jayce could see the ghost of bags under her eyes though he knew she was very meticulous to not let others see. She worked hard, she did and Jayce felt bad for making her clean up his mess. As if reading his mind she reassured him and handed Jayce a paper.

“You’re being released today. Get your stuff. Fill out those papers and you’re free. And Jayce, don’t worry too much. It’s my job to clean up messes. Go take a shower, you smell.”

None of the things Cait and Vi said could reassure Jayce except the news of his release. The first thing Jayce did was order out. While waiting for his food to arrive he took a shower and examined the scarring left by the gunshot on his left side. It wasn’t that bad, noticeable but it wasn’t like he was showing off his body anytime soon. Jayce wasn’t interested in other people. Well, not since Viktor.

Any thought involving Viktor was tinged with regret and shame. Jayce was still avoiding him and his own mistakes. He knew he should have done things differently, should have apologized so long ago, but now it was just something Jayce had grown to hide from due to his own pride. Years had long passed. The longer Jayce waited to approach Viktor the harder it seemed to get.

Jayce had learned a while ago why Viktor had taken the crystal. It was too bad he had learned of it way past the moment he had shattered their friendship as he had the crystal. But he didn’t expect Viktor to know his reasoning of betraying him during their academy days. That was something Jayce had kept a secret. It wasn’t only because he had opposed Viktor’s point of view. A lot of it had to do with his own cowardice and pride.

Jayce wasn’t that great of a person. He knew. Everyone knew. And as Jayce ate his lukewarm food from takeout boxes on his couch as he contemplated his life. There was a lot of things he was yet to accomplish and many other things he had. He was the youngest to be accepted into his clan, the brightest and most talented but he didn’t have friends.

His shrewd attitude and cockiness only allowed him few who were not in the same line of work as him and could stand his insufferable attitude. And Amaranthine. That girl. She was something. Jayce had changed a bit since meeting her. He had.. Gotten softer somehow. Whatever changed in him it might have been for the best because he was actually reflecting on his own regrets and attitude right now. He would have never done so in the past.

Jayce flipped through the radio channels, finding the news and the few late night talk shows boring until he just turned it off. He shucked the rest of the unfinished food in their boxes into his fridge and plopped back down onto his couch. The silence of his apartment felt stuffy and it wasn’t until the sound of rain beginning to fall against his windows did it relieve it.

With a big breath, Jayce let his head lull back and his eyes peer through the half open blinds of one of the windows. The dim light of star rods lining the streets peeking back at him. He could see fat droplets hitting the glass and sliding down to the bottom. He watched.

Then heard it.

A ringing in his ears, an echo in his heart. Jayce sat up but he wasn’t in his apartment anymore. He was in a valley. A cold and desolate place. He wandered and the rock structures he came across had orifices that allowed the wind to whistle through. The earth was dry and familiar. Fog seeped into the bones of the valley and Jayce could feel vibrations through the ground as he walked.

Rain had begin to fall but Jayce was not wet. As if he were a ghost, he passed through the world unnoticed and wandering without knowing why he was there. There was little wildlife, only few birds soaring high above the fog. Jayce could hear their wings fluttering. In his roaming he came across tracks. Long gashes in the ground as if something had dragged large horns across the earth. Jayce walked in the direction it faded off to.

There was a camp. Small, hidden from sight. And as he came closer he made out the figure of someone sitting in front of a fire. Their features were covered with armor and cloth in a style Jayce was not familiar with. They held a vicious looking blade over their lap. The fire danced in its reflection and revealed the thick blood that stained its edge.

The person paused in their cleaning, turned and looked at Jayce. He felt a chill run through him. Felt a stabbing in his conscious that awoke him and brought him back in a gasping mess in his living room. Jayce clutched at his chest, feeling with shaking hands the frantic beating of his heart. He sat up in a cold sweat, dropping his head forward into his hands as he tried to calm himself.

Visions. That was the most intense one he had experienced. Different than his usual ones too. Jayce didn't know what it all meant. He felt even more tired than when he spent 3 days without sleep to finish a commission. And he hadn't even gotten up.

Jayce groaned and fell limp against the couch, running a hand through his messy hair. He can't let this keep on going. It's going to drive him insane. He already got weird looks from Amaranthine and some other people around the lab. Different from the usual miffed ones he was able to squeeze out of everyone.

No, he was definitely going to go off the edge at this rate. He needed to do something, but what? Jayce's mind buzzed and he managed to pull out a couple of ideas. He stood up and rummaged through his apartment. Found his hex-phone and dialed Ezreal's home number. It went to voicemail.

“ _You called Ezreal, the handsomest, bravest, and most clever explorer in all of Runeterra. I'm not here right now 'cause I'm out doing awesome stuff-”_

It goes on. Something about autographs and missing relics. Jayce didn't pay attention to the last few bits. It went on until Ezreal was cut off by his own machine.

“Ez,” Jayce said once the voicemail message was over, “I need your help with something. You know who it is. Remember that favor you owe me? I'm here to collect on it. Call me back. Or find me in my lab.”

He hung up and tossed the phone back into the mess he had pulled it from on his study desk. Now that was taken care of, all he had to do was do some research and he could come to a solid conclusion and a clear course of action. Whatever was causing these visions and dreams it had something to do with his hammer, or rather the crystal powering it.

Jayce shoved some papers out of the way and crouched in several places looking for a document that could help. Except he couldn't find it. He might have thrown it away almost as soon as he was given it by his upper clansman. It was a document holding details on the shuriman crystal Jayce was allowed to work on so many years ago.

The armband of the woman was similar to those given to excavators sent to Shurima to recover crystals. He wasn't aware there were still people doing that since cheaper and weaker synthetic crystals were being created and distributed by Clan Ferros. Of course they couldn't replicate the real thing. The real crystals were for the wealthy, saved in vaults of the wealthy clans and their rich members. 

Jayce was lucky enough to be able to experiment on a huge portion of a raw crystal in its natural form. That was the same one to power his hammer. 

If he recalled correctly it was recovered by Giopara's excavators in Shurima. However the Ferros family was much more knowledgeable about these crystals and they jealously guarded their secrets and research. It had for a long time been apart of their family business. Jayce was sure that Clan Ferros’ Principal Intelligencer, Camille Ferros, had much of the information he craved. And perhaps, with knowledge of her hex-heart and augments, she may have experienced his own issues.

Getting in touch with her would be more than a little bit of a pain. She didn't exactly like him very much. Or rather she found him too troublesome to deal with as most people did. Jayce recalled her firm expression, the steel in her eyes and her lips pursed so tight together. The last time he had spoken to her it was at his grandfather's funeral. He didn't keep in touch.

If he had told anyone he knew Camille Ferros first-hand then he wouldn't blame their doubt. It was hard to see someone like Jayce knowing someone like Camille. They were on opposite sides of the spectrum.

He had almost joined her clan if he hadn't opposed to the way they ran themselves and what was expected of him.

Jayce glanced at a turned down photograph that sat in the middle shelf of his bookshelf. He lifted it up and set it back. His face softened and he breathed out a sigh. He could see his weary expression in the reflection of the glass.

It was almost time to visit the cemetery again to pay his grandparents a visit. He had neglected to go the last year because of work and other matters but this year he would go up town.

And maybe there he'll get back in touch with dear auntie Camille.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo, this is a bit canon divergent. Mostly in the fact that I base the fic's Jayce off of my own Jayce I rp on tumblr. He has familial relationships with Camille that will be explained in the next chapter. I hope that doesn't put too many people off and instead intrigues them a bit.
> 
> If you're interested in looking at my blog it's jaycetechmaturgics on tumblr. I don't rp on it as much as I used to but I still post my art of him and expand on some headcanons and au ideas I have.


	4. Extras Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! If you've read this far into the fic, I have to say that I really appreciate it. And if you enjoy it, that makes me even more happy! I've been thinking of this fic for years and I've finally decided to hunker down and write it. Updates will be random, but I'll try for a chapter at least every week or so. 
> 
> So in this little short extra chapter I wanted to give you guys some of the art I've drawn for this story. They're a bit shoddy but I hope you guys enjoy it nonetheless and continue to support me in this endeavor. Thank you!

This was one of the first images I drew for this story. Still one of my favorites. I need to draw more Skarner. 

My friend has a Shuriman Darius who's a sellsword. I'm hoping to incorporate him in the story later on. 


	5. Extras Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here are a few more extras I have and my more recent doodles!

This is my idea of Jayce after him having spent several months in Shurima. His hair grows a bit longer and he just ties it back. I've been trying to draw him in outfits that would suit the story more.

 


	6. For Family, Will I Give

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am on fire today. I wrote all of this chapter today. It took me a while and I think my eyes are looking in both directions. So forgive me if there is some typos and maybe some details I forgot while editing. Today is a Camille day and next chapter we finally see our favorite and maybe not so favorite Piltovan explorer.

She looked the same as she always did. Not a single year of age showing across her precise and elegant features. Her eyes were cold and hard. They glowed. Beneath her coat Jayce could spy the glint of her sharpened legs. The light drizzle didn't seem to bother her as much as it did Jayce. He never liked to get wet.

That's something she had always chided him about. That he was never willing to get his hands dirty, to be the scrupulous blade that cut away the ills of Piltover.

He was too soft. Or too naive. Cowardly. Maybe all the above. Whatever Camille thought of Jayce he was sure it was something along those lines.

They locked eyes. Jayce shifted under his umbrella then set down a bouquet on two graves. His grandparents. After a short silence he spoke.

“How are you?”

“Please,” Camille said impatiently, arms behind her back and body straight. Her rigid and cold demeanor hadn't changed in the slightest and she was straight to business. “You haven't asked me that since you were in grade school. What do you need, Jayce? Or should I call you Defender of Tomorrow?”

Jayce winced at her sharp tone. He cleared his throat and tightened his grip on the handle of his umbrella. He felt nervous pricks at the back of his neck. She always did manage to make him always feel uncomfortable.

“You know I hate that and no one actually calls me that unless they're being sarcastic.”

Camille raised a brow at him and there was the slightest twitch at the corner of her lips. Jayce squinted. He continued.

“But there's a reason why I called you. I have.. A problem.”

“Oh that's surprising.”

Jayce ignored her.

“Something is wrong with the crystal.”

Camille gave him a pointed look. She spoke slowly and firmly.

“What do you mean something is _wrong_ with the crystal? That sliver you use to power that little toy of yours? Giopara's crystal?” Camille stepped closer, eyes searching Jayce suspiciously. Jayce wet his lips and avoided her gaze.

“Have you.. Ever heard voices, auntie? After your surgery I mean. Seen visions of desert? I think it may have sickened me somehow. You're the only one I know who has extensive knowledge about Shuriman crystals. I was hoping-”

“-That I would know what ails you, nephew? I do not. As for my surgery,” she paused and her face twisted in thought. “I had one dream after it. But that was it. What do you mean by sickened?”

Jayce really hadn't been aiming to tell Camille everything but he was never able to hide much from her. And if he wanted her help, he would tell her the truth. Though Camille was often times cold, she was not entirely cruel. At least to those who weren't criminals and enemies of her clan. And Jayce was neither of those. At least he hoped.

She would help him. But for a price. It was only fair. Whatever it was Jayce would pay it if she could help him somehow. He swallowed his pride for a moment.

“I am hearing things. Voices. Seeing visions while I'm awake and dreaming of the same things when I'm asleep. It started shortly after I destroyed the crystal Viktor stole-”

He saw a flicker of disapproval in her eyes.

“-And has steadily grown worse over the last few years. They're intense. Realistic. And I met an excavator a few days ago.”

“Were they from a clan?”

“I don't think so. She was living in a homeless community in Zaun. She didn't have any crest on her armband.”

“A freelancer then. Hired as fodder for dangerous excavations in Shurima for cash.”

“She wasn't sane. She said I was cursed.”

Camille snickered. “Well she wasn't wrong.”

Jayce rolled his eyes and waved his hand.

“She said she could hear the voices too. What I'm trying to say here is that I think there is something wrong. Really wrong with the crystal in my mercury hammer. I need information. Where the crystal was dug up specifically, research on them and maybe I can figure out what the hell is happening to me.”

Camille listened patiently then turned completely to Jayce to speak to him. There was amusement in her eyes and maybe a bit of interest in his predicament.

“Do you know where this woman is?” She asked. Jayce shook his head.

“No, she's dead.”

“Mm,” Camille mused. “You know if you weren't my great nephew I wouldn't have given you the time of day for this meeting.”

“I know.”

“And if it weren't for your grandfather I would have made a proper Ferros out of you.”

“I'm thankful for him.”

She laughed. It was a quiet and quick thing. Jayce remembered feeling reassured at that sound as a kid. Strangely, it still had that effect on him. He glanced down at his grandparents’ graves.

“I'm thankful for both of them.”

There was silence between them as the light rain trickled to stop and the sun began to peek through sparse openings in the grey clouds overhead. A couple decades of history between them passed, unspoken and silently acknowledged.

The sound of a train roared by, whistling loudly and clicking against the rails. Camille turned from Jayce.

“I'll give you the information about the crystals but not all the research. Only what you're looking for. I cannot give you more. You are not a Ferros in name but you're still in many, irreversible ways still family. _And for family, will I give_.”

Jayce stood there, watching Camille's slim form saunter away. She glanced back, meeting his eye.

“And for family, will _you_ give. Payment for information. You're going to help me with something before I help you. I hope you still aren't queasy around blood, Jayce. Meet me at the docks tomorrow. 5 AM on the dot. You know which warehouse. And try to look less.. _You_.”

She smiled, something akin to delight in her blue eyes. She turned and walked away, leaving him alone with his thoughts. Jayce watched as she slowly disappeared from view. He let down his umbrella and shook the droplets from its top onto the ground before closing it with a quiet sigh.

That was the price he had been waiting for.

Jayce rubbed his face and spoke to his grandmother's tombstone, tired.

“What have I gotten myself into, granny?”

* * *

 

On the way home Jayce ran some errands. He had to stop by the lab. Amaranthine had left him several notes for the days he hadn’t come in to work. Jayce held them in his hand briefly. All were some sort of scolding, telling him to stop being an idiot and take care of himself. Vi had apparently came by the other day to tell her what happened. At least that saved him the trouble of telling her himself. He had other things he needed to do than hang out with his favorite assistant.

He didn’t want her to get caught up in what mess he was going to get himself into. And this wasn’t up for discussion. Usually if she was here she would have argued with him and told him to bring her along on his mishaps or she would come either way.  Her father would often come to him, tired and in a fright as to where his daughter had gotten off to and if she was alright.

Jayce had met Amaranthine’s  father several times. He wasn’t a friend but he was familiar enough that they had a good and quiet friendship which was rare for Jayce. The man was a quiet fellow, polite, shy. A pushover really, but Jayce did promise him a while ago he’d make sure to protect Amaranthine whenever she was with him. The man’s handsome and worried face did him in.

Grabbing a piece of paper, Jayce scrawled some words onto it, telling Amaranthine he won’t be back for a while and to stop causing her dad worry. If things went Jayce’s way, he was sure he’d be gone for longer than a while. Things weren’t looking so good in Jayce’s mind. Mostly because there was nothing about his condition here in Piltover, if Camille had encountered such symptoms or known if someone had it before she would have told him.

Jayce suspected he would need to leave Piltover to learn more about his particular affliction. Specifically to Shurima.

Jayce paused to think before leaving his lap. He wondered what Camille had in store for him. Concerning his previous relations with her, she was his great aunt and he spent some time with her as a young child. His family wasn’t close with their relatives. Jayce’s mother was a distant niece of Camille and was raised by his grandfather who was a close cousin to the Lady Gray herself. When Jayce’s mother passed his grandfather took him in as well with Camille’s permission and conditions.

They lived away from the main house of Ferros, a middle class family. Jayce lead his life with little interruption except for the fact that Camille wanted him tutored on the weekends. Sometimes by her. She was the one who taught him to fight. Though unsurprisingly he has never been able to beat her nor did he stay in contact with her long enough to receive a full, proper Ferros training that she had wanted for him. Thankfully.

Jayce was adamantly opposed to joining the Ferros family. He wanted to pursue his own goals and do it his way. Being the rash man he is, he joined Clan Giopara as their youngest apprenta shortly after his grandfather had passed. He cut his ties with Camille and the Ferros family. Most of them. He had a cousin who was a hairdresser who often came to play with him as a kid. Jayce was still in touch with him. But he wasn’t very relevant to the issue at hand. Other than the fact he helped Jayce get a meeting with Camille.

He was the current master of the clan’s favorite dresser. Handy.

After leaving the Giopara estate Jayce bought some groceries and a new set of clothes for his early morning job. Camille had told him to not look like himself. Meaning she really didn’t want him to be noticed and it was a hard thing to do with such a handsome and memorable face as his. He would try but no promises.

When he got home he felt even more tired than he had been when he had left. He dropped his clothes onto the couch and left the groceries on the kitchen counter. Jayce could cook, but it wasn’t fancy. Everything he made was simple. And tonight’s dinner was eggs with whatever vegetables he had bought. Eggs were easy to make and went down just as well for Jayce.  

However while he was cooking there was a knock on his door. Jayce clicked on the feed of the camera he installed above his front door from the screen in his kitchen. He saw a tall figure. A man. He paused, then realizing who it was shut off the stove and scrambled to open the door.

“Isaak,” he greeted, touching the back of his neck as he held open the door. “What are you doing here?” He was met with dark eyes, warm and inviting. A kind face and strong figure. Jayce felt his chest stir when he saw the man’s sheepish smile. For such a big guy, he was much more gentle and kind than other muscle heads Jayce had met. And they had one thing in common.

Amaranthine.

“Ammy wanted-” Isaak began to speak but was interrupted by a head of blonde hair shoving past his hip and into Jayce’s field of view. Amaranthine grinned at Jayce and shoved at him a shiny metal award cup saying 1st place. Jayce’s brows furrowed.

“I won my school’s science award! They were so impressed! And Jack’s dumb face was so priceless! Oh you should have seen it, Jayce!” She excitedly told him.

“-She wanted to show you it and make sure you were okay,” her dad finished saying with a smile. Jayce felt conflicting emotions. On one part of the spectrum he was proud ‘cause she had been agonizing and bothering him about that science fair for months and all her hard work had paid off, on another end he was still hungry and wanted to eat, and on another side he was torn between inviting them in and just congratulating them then sending them off.

“Uh, well you showed me and I’m doing fine. Did you really come all this way to show me?” He asked awkwardly. Amaranthine rolled her eyes and tucked her trophy under her arm, hands on her hips.

“My school is close, duh, and we just left the fair. And I knew you’d be alright even after Pinky told me you were in the hospital. But when are you coming back to the lab?” She was fast paced in her speaking, something she had picked up from Jayce. And the amount of sass in her voice was.. Well maybe his fault too for helping her become a smart mouthed brat. Sorry Isaak, he didn’t mean to do it.

“For a while,” Jayce said after a pause. He glanced at his clothes still sitting on the couch. Isaak reached forward to pull Amaranthine back to him. He smiled at Jayce and chortled softly.

“It’s okay, I never meant to leave her for you to babysit, Jayce. If you have business that she needs to keep her nose out of,” Isaak glanced at her. She looked away then pretended to whistle though they all knew she didn’t know how so she just made a puckered lip motion and a quiet tooting sound as if she was playing a fake trumpet. He sighed and smiled wearily at Jayce. “Then I’ll have her stay home. Or at her aunt’s. Don’t worry about it. And now, we’re going home. Come on, buttercup.”

Isaak patted her shoulder and urged her away from the door. Amaranthine groaned and looked back at Jayce with pleading eyes. “But when are you coming back?” she asked. Jayce shrugged then leaned against the doorframe, watching as Isaak began to coral her down toward the steps.

“I don’t know. I might be going out of town soon. So maybe a few months.”

Isaak paused and looked back at Jayce, his forehead creased and eyes curious. Oh Jayce was weak to that. The man had a puppy-eyed look to him and though Jayce often ignored people and didn’t pay attention to them, Amaranthine had really changed him somehow. Made him learn a bit of empathy and so had her father. Jayce was fond of him. He was a friend.

“A few months?” he asked. Amaranthine looked back at Jayce too, hands over her dad’s forearm as he scooped her up into his arms.

“Yeah, I have a.. Business trip soon. Can’t tell you the details. Private clan stuff. Y’know.”

“Ugh, that’s boring,” Amaranthine complained and rested her chin on her dad’s shoulder. “What am I going to do for a few months?” Isaak chided her softly then nodded to Jayce. He smiled.

“Do what you need to do, Jayce. You have no obligation to us, you never had to look after my daughter and me but you did. We’ll still be here when you get back. Good night.”

Jayce was taken aback. For the first time in a long while since his parting with Viktor he felt a bit torn. Taken by surprise from the emotion settling in his gut. He hadn’t thought much about it. If he left Piltover he may never come back. The world outside those docks and the Sun Gates wasn’t like Piltover. It was unorganized, unpredictable and he would have no backup, no law to fall back on if he was to go on a journey to Shurima. Well there was no ifs there. He was going to. He knew, and Shurima was a wildly dangerous place. Magic, the void, Noxus, raiders, and bandits. So many elements that could affect his journey.

Jayce stopped Isaak before he descended the steps of his apartment.

“Isaak,” he said, “You don’t work for any clan at the docks right?”

“Not any specific one, no. But it depends on who pays us. We longshoremen don’t always get to choose who we work for in that matter. The docks just assign us and we work.”

“Are you working tomorrow?”

“No, sir.”

“Good, have a good night you two.”

Isaak gave him a curious look but didn’t ask why Jayce had asked those questions. Jayce watched as he disappeared down the steps with Amaranthine falling asleep in his arms. When they were gone Jayce went back inside. He ate, pulled out a map of Runeterra that Ezreal had given him when he came back from a trip. He checked his hex-phone. No messages or calls.

Jayce traced the shoreline of Shurima. Bel’Zhun wasn’t far from Piltover by sea. It was only five days away. However he didn’t know where he would start first. There was numerous port cities in Shurima. Just going to Shurima with no destination in mind was just stupid. That’s why he needed the information Camille had. Jayce wasn’t close enough to the higher ups in Clan Giopara to gain access to more information they may have. Just like Clan Medara and any other clan they kept secrets that only close family and members was privy to. It wasn’t like sneaking into the academy’s private library like he did with Ezreal before.

Their knowledge and secrets weren’t just sitting in some library he could steal into.

So he needed Camille and if she was willing to give him what he wanted to know for a little job that hopefully didn’t involve murder (he was doubtful), he would do it. It wasn’t the first job he did for her or with her for that matter. And the details of those numerous jobs he had done was something he wouldn’t disclose to anyone anytime soon.

Jayce leaned back in his desk chair, pushing up his reading classes over his hair. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed. He was thankful Isaak wasn’t working tomorrow. He wasn’t sure what job at the docks Camille had in mind but he didn’t want his friend to get involved. If he could guess he would assume it may have something to do with the security of Piltover.  

Camille had purpose. And though her methods were questionable, she had good intent. Much like Jayce really. He knew she had this balancing act thing in her mind. If something wasn’t balanced in her eyes she would see to it that it be corrected. And that involved keeping investigating large scale crimes, keeping class differences, and protecting Piltover from outside threats.

Whatever this job was, Jayce wasn’t going to guess it and he might as well get a good night’s rest before he inevitably gets in trouble again. He set his glasses on the desk and turned off the lights of his apartment. And when he settled in bed he fell into a quiet and peaceful sleep.

Until the dreams came again.

* * *

“You look like shit, keep those glasses on,” she had tossed him tinted glasses and Jayce caught them. They had photochromic lenses and somehow were the right prescription, the same as his reading glasses. He didn’t bother asking her how she knew and instead looked out at the rest of the Wharfside Docks. It was a colorful place. Colored buildings and warehouses as well as machinery in every nook and cranny. Some ships were privately own and you could tell by their gaudy designs. Owned by the rich who had a claim in the trading business.

A whole menagerie of cultures was most prevalent at the docks. People speaking in common, different dialects from Ionia, Shurima, Bilgewater and even Noxus. It was hard not know a bit of Ur-Noxian or some variation of it. A lot of the towns and territories outside of Piltover was controlled by the nation.

Jayce followed Camille through the docks. They walked casually, Jayce trailing behind her in the morning crowd as people continued on working and trading. They passed a tavern and a couple of port side businesses. It had been a while since Jayce visited the docks. The smell of the sea was strong and so far no one recognized him. They wandered into a back alley and with a swift movement, Camille grabbed Jayce by the waist and swung them above the building to their right with a quick hookshot. He almost let out a cry of surprise but was quickly thrown onto the roof with little warning as Camille landed with elegance. She could almost hear the snicker in her voice.

“Get up, boy,” she said and strolled past him, the blades of her legs glinting in the morning sun. Jayce bit back a complaint and pushed himself off from the ground. He brushed away the dirt from his trousers and followed her. She was crouching by a domed glass window that overlooked the warehouse beneath. Jayce crouched beside her and they watched.

At first there was no one inside. Just boxes stacked on top of each other and not much to see. Until he saw the head of a person peek out from the shadows. They stepped into view, their features obscured by the hood of their cloak. A man stepped forward as well, as if having waited for his cue. He didn’t have a cloak. He wore plain clothes and a grey cap. They seemed to be speaking and Jayce could feel Camille readying herself. She stay poised, calm and watching. He continued to watch as well.

They couldn’t hear what was being said but the moment the person in the cloak took out an envelope Camille was in motion. Without hesitance she shattered the window and threw herself down into the warehouse with Jayce dropping in after her. His knees shook slightly with the impact but he didn’t terry. He lunged forward and reached for the man, quickly pinning him to the ground and holding him down with his weight.

“You’re slow, nephew. Perhaps you need my training again. I do hate to see how dull you’ve become,” Camille teased him and held the girl by the wrist. Jayce rolled his eyes and pressed his weight down on the man who cried out and thrashed beneath him. She snatched the envelope from the cloaked person and tucked it into her pocket. She was a menace, her voice like a knife.

“Or perhaps you need to be better trained as well,” she hissed and shoved the person’s hood down from their face. It was a young woman. She was pretty, dark haired and dark eyed. Instead of trembling in fear as many would she glared at Camille with such viciousness, her jaw taut.

“Isn’t that right, Miss Colette of Clan Medara? Or should I say..” Camille’s grip tightened on the woman’s wrist but she hardly batted an eyelash, meeting her with a stubborn defiance. “Miss Noxian _rat_.” Before the two of them could react the woman had taken out something from her pocket and threw it on the ground, yelling something in Ur-Noxian. It blinded them both and staggered Camille. The woman broke free and fled.

“Follow her!” Camille howled but he was already after her. He left the man to Camille as he gave chase. The girl was fast but Jayce was also agile. She fled through the alleyway and into the crowd, but Jayce had her scent and a know of the land. He ducked beneath men and vaulted over crates as she tried to lose him. Jayce grabbed a flag hanging from the tavern he had passed before with Camille and used it to wrap around the hanging head of a star rod and propel him around the corner of another alleyway that the woman had turned and tackled her from above.

She screamed and he used the cloth to wrap around her mouth as he cushioned their fall with his own body. Before they drew too much attention he hefted her into his arms and quickly ran down the alley and into another warehouse he was familiar with. This one wasn’t used. At least for its intended purposes because it was owned by the Ferros family. He knew it well.

She struggled in his grasp and tried to make him lose balance but he was firm. His heart pounded in ears and he breathed heavily. This much cardio may have been a lot more than Jayce had in awhile. She did managed to knock his glasses from his face and maybe bruise his cheek but he made sure to tie her up with ropes Camille had tucked away in a crate at the back of the warehouse. He remembered. He dropped the girl on the ground and stood back to catch his breath.

She looked at him with a suspicious gaze, the makeup on her face ruined by their struggle. She had smudged eyeliner and Jayce was sure that gaudy red rogue on her lips was staining the flag he had wrapped around her mouth. She was no longer yelling through which was a plus.

“You’re a long ways away from home, lady,” Jayce said and bent down to recover his glasses. One of the lenses was cracked. Hopefully Camille wouldn’t make him pay for it. He looked at the girl and she glared back. Jeez, so intense.

So this case was related to the Noxians. Jayce had known that there was perhaps spies in their midsts but he never concerned himself with the national security of Piltover. However if a nation like Noxus had access to their resources and power.. Well they all knew that spelled trouble for everyone. Piltover was a neutral city-state. The center of trade and technology in Runeterra. It wasn’t surprising that the imperialistic nation of Noxus would send warmasons to infiltrate their city with schemes to one day try to overtake them.

And for once, Jayce looked at the bigger picture. His squabble with Viktor seemed so small compared to what could happen. He didn't blame Camille for being disappointed in him when he had so selfishly been wrapped up in his own affairs and had acted so childishly. Thoughts of Viktor filled Jayce's mind and he had to work hard to push him away. This wasn't the time to feel sorry for himself or wallow in old memories.

Jayce propped himself up on top of a crate. It wasn't long until Camille arrived, prim and proper as ever. She smiled menacingly down at the woman sitting on the warehouse floor. The woman glanced between Jayce and her then glowered at Camille.

“Tut, tut, don’t be like that. You’ll ruin that pretty face of yours before I do it myself. Now, I’m going to let you speak, and you’re going to tell me what I want to know yes? A pity we don’t have a stove. I’d have made some tea. Well that’s alright, I’ll be sure to make some for you friend later. When he wakes up, of course.”

Camille motioned for Jayce to untie the flag and he did so without speaking. He was sure when he removed the piece of cloth that the woman would bite him but all she did was look at him like he was some zoo animal.

“I didn’t know that the Defender of Tomorrow and the Lady Gray were related,” she said in a hoarse voice. She had dropped whatever fake accent she must have been imitating. That gruttal Noxian undertone was unmistakable in her voice. She wasn’t scared. Of course she wasn’t. She was prepared to die when she became a warmason. Jayce wondered how old she had been when they first began training her.

Camille laughed.

“Oh, child, there are many things you don’t know. Like how I’ve been watching you since your partner was deported. I know you stole Clan Medara’s trade map. I know you gave it to Noxus. I know the contents of this envelope.” Camille reproduced the envelope that the woman have been holding before and threw it on the ground. It landed with a loud slap. “It took you awhile to recover what your partner lost to the sheriff didn’t it? Such a diligent worker you are. Too bad it was for naught.”

The woman closed her eyes. She spoke calmly but Jayce could see the fury that she was struggling to hold back.

“ _What do you want?_ ” She speaks in Ur-Noxian now, not even trying to deny the accusations or pretend she's Piltovan. She knows she’s cornered and Camille responds fluently.

“ _Names and locations.”_

She spits at Camille’s bladed foot.

“ _You will get nothing from me.”_

The workings of Camille’s legs glowed and she looks down at the woman with eyes of frozen ocean.

_“A pity, expected, but still a pity. I will find out. I have your courier and I’m going to pry open that little mind of his piece by piece. Even after he is dead I will find what I’m looking for, girl. I have patience. But none for you.”_

Camille raised her leg and Jayce without thinking bolted out. He stood in front of her, arm out. She stopped and let out a tired sigh.

“You’re going to kill her? Just like that? How about giving her over to Caitlyn?” Jayce asked, shielding the woman behind him. 

Camille dropped her leg and placed a hand at her temple as if she had a migraine. She spoke to Jayce like he were a child.

“The girl playing with her parent’s toys? No. She didn’t kill the other spy. She let her go free. I gave her a tip and though she burned the woman’s work, she let her go free. Shipped to Bel’Zhun. A territory _controlled by Noxus_ in Shurima. What she lost on paper she still has in her mind. It’s too dangerous. And you know I hate leaving loose ends.”

Jayce was going to protest, he was going to try to reason with Camille to let Caitlyn interrogate her until he felt the edge of something sharp press against his back. The woman had undone the ropes he had put her in with a knife. Whether it was hidden in her boot or her sleeve didn’t matter because she was trying to use Jayce to trade for her freedom, but before she could speak Camille lifted her leg and with the precision of a surgeon sliced her throat open as Jayce ducked quickly to the side. Warm, uncomfortable wetness spilled against his back and Jayce hopped to the side.

“Hm, I guess you aren’t as slow as I thought you were,” Camille mused and gazed down at the dead woman beneath her. She sliced the envelope that lie on the ground in half and dragged it through the blood, the contents now ruined and never to be known. She turned from Jayce who stood there, breathing hard and speechless.

“But you’re still as naive and soft as I remember. Taller though.”

“Auntie..”

“I’m disappointed in you, Jayce. But well, when have I never been? You weren’t meant to be a Ferros. You fit quite perfectly in that.. Domestic clan of yours. Making toasters and over sized toys for the common folk. Playing hero as if you're still a child.”

Jayce fisted the wet cloth of his shirt, anger and shame running through his veins. He had no retort.

“What you want is to go to Kalamada,” she said, looking back at him. Her eyes glowed and Jayce met her gaze. This was a lesson. He knew. She wanted to show him the bigger picture. But she wanted him to see it through her lenses. He was a child playing make believe and ignoring what he could be doing to help his people. She wanted him not to be a hero, but to be a force. A force that would keep Piltover safe, and keep the balance of Runeterra.

Jayce just wasn’t sure he wanted that.

As a kid, Jayce often heard Camille compare the world to a garden. She told him that there was enough room for all plants, but every garden there needed to be gardeners. Those who prevent one single plant from overwhelming the others and help all grow instead of focusing on just one. There was a balance and every plant needs different things to keep them healthy and thriving.

Camille continued to speak and Jayce listened to her intently. He needed to remember what she said about the crystals. 

“It is to the far northwest of Shurima. It is about a 16 day voyage by sea from Piltover. It's where the first crystals were dug up. Our clan stopped excavating them after some time because they were not a renewable resource. Eventually we would have dug up everything and there would be nothing left. So our family searched to augment the ones we had unearthed, resulting in the creation of synthetic hex-crystals. There are several original hex-crystals that are stored in a family vault reserved only for family. They used a piece of one for my heart. The crystals are purely magical in origin. Those with innate magical abilities have been able to properly tap into their power.

Every clan or excavator looking to hit it big has sought to uncover these magic crystals in Kalamada. But they are not just crystals, Jayce. They are not entirely from the earth. They come from living creatures. Brackern. Crystal skorpions that sleep beneath the sands in Shurima. We don't know why. There is not much known about these creatures. No research or accounts. We have not found any to be alive.”

Jayce stopped her, trying to wrap his mind around this information.

“Wait, you harvested these crystals from them? Did that.. Kill them? Wake them?”

“As far as the accounts go, no, they never woke but harvesting the crystals did kill them. It appeared that their bodies couldn’t sustain without them. I suspect you might be experiencing secondhand memories from the crystal in your possession. Why and if it'll ever stop I don't know.”

It was messed up. Camille probably knew that was what Jayce was thinking. Not the fact that he might be reliving memories from some dead creature from Shurima, but because they had been killing these creatures and getting rich off it. He was however glad that they stopped, but that didn’t change the fact that there was still people, people from his own clan and greedy fortune seekers still harvesting these crystals from these defenseless creatures. It didn’t sit well with him.

“If you go there, I will not be the first to warn you that you may die. In fact it would not surprise me if you did. However I don’t think you want to sit idle either. I can see you thinking, Jayce. _If_ you manage to come back alive, do me a favor - to pay back on the one of saving your life just now. Visit me and tell me what you find. And before you go charging to your death, do a little more research. And maybe talk to that wind faerie that's been hanging around Zaun. She could perhaps offer some advice. If you can find her. Ta-ta dear nephew.”

She smiled and disappeared in a fury of grappling hooks and blade, leaving Jayce in the empty warehouse alone with a cooling corpse and a dirty shirt contemplating his next move. He felt a vibration in his back pocket and pulled out his hex-phone.

“Hello?”

A familiar voice greeted him, full of easy going confidence and comforting warmth.

“Hey, buddy, I got your voicemail. I just got back from the Freljord. I got some cool shit to show you, dude. My uncle found some sick stuff and let me have it. I swear I didn't steal it. You wanna get lunch or something? Your treat?”

Jayce laughed and held the phone between his ear and shoulder as he began to undo the buttons of his shirt. He couldn’t be seen with blood all over him. There was one thing Camille was wrong about.

Jayce wasn’t queasy around blood anymore.

He glanced at the body and stepped toward the open door. Gulls cried overhead and the sun was bright. He could hear the sound of waves in the air. The sky was clear and Jayce was sure it was going to be a nice day.

“Fine, my treat. Where do you wanna go?”


End file.
